Israel says ‘dismantled’ Hamas leadership in north Gaza
GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories—Israel said it had “dismantled” Hamas’ military leadership in northern Gaza as its war against the Palestinian group entered a fourth month on Sunday, with fears mounting that the conflict could spread into neighboring Lebanon.Six people were killed early Sunday during an Israeli raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, with witnesses reporting that Israel also carried out airstrikes in Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Yunis.
Israel’s army said late Saturday it had “completed the dismantling of the Hamas military framework in the northern Gaza Strip” and its forces would now focus on central and southern areas of the territory.
The prospect of a wider regional war loomed with army spokesperson Daniel Hagari warning that Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group was “dragging Lebanon into an unnecessary war.”The group fired more than 60 rockets at an Israeli military base on Saturday in response to this week’s killing in Beirut of Hamas’ deputy leader.
The war in Gaza was triggered by an unprecedented attack on Israel launched by Hamas on Oct. 7, which resulted in the deaths of around 1,140 people, most of them civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) tally based on official Israeli figures.
‘Uninhabitable’
The militants also took around 250 hostages, 132 of whom remain in captivity, according to Israel. At least 24 are believed to have been killed.
In response, Israel is carrying out a relentless bombardment and ground invasion that have killed at least 22,722 people, most of them women and children, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Israel would continue its campaign to “eliminate Hamas, return our hostages and ensure that Gaza will no longer be a threat to Israel.”
AFP correspondents reported Israeli strikes on Saturday in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of people have sought shelter from the fighting.
Civilians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip have borne the brunt of the conflict as the scale of the destruction has triggered mass displacement and a deepening humanitarian crisis.
With swathes of the territory reduced to rubble, UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths on Friday said “Gaza has simply become uninhabitable.”
The World Health Organization says most of Gaza’s 36 hospitals have been put out of action, while remaining medical facilities face dire shortages.
Top Western diplomats were in the region over the weekend as part of a fresh push to boost the flow of aid into Gaza and address mounting fears of a wider conflict.‘Real concern’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Jordan on Sunday during a Middle East tour that will take him to Israel and the occupied West Bank next week.
“One of the real concerns is the border between Israel and Lebanon, and we want to do everything possible to make sure we see no escalation,” he told reporters in Greece, where he stopped before continuing to Jordan.
Blinken was due to hold talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah II before heading to Qatar and Abu Dhabi later in the day.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Saturday visited Beirut, where he met a senior Hezbollah figure as part of efforts to avoid Lebanon being drawn into the war, an EU source confirmed. —AFP
